An Unfinished Life

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BOB STRAUSS, Los Angeles Daily News

Published 5:30 am, Friday, September 9, 2005

An Unfinished Life feels like an unfinished movie.

A family drama set in scenic Wyoming foothills, it's about flawed people shambling toward forgiveness of themselves and each other. Well and good, except all of their flaws are old hat and redemption hangs over the piece like the pine forests covering the looming mountains. Or like a forgone conclusion.

Robert Redford goes for grizzled as Einar Gilkyson, an unhappy rancher, recovering from alcoholism but still wallowing in grief over his son's death in a car crash a dozen years ago. Jennifer Lopez is her usual spunky self (if more guilt-ridden than usual) as his daughter-in-law, Jean, who fell asleep at the wheel that awful night. Apparently, except for initial recriminations, they haven't exchanged a word since.

To punish herself, Jean has gone on to a series of abusive boyfriends. But when she finally flees the latest batterer with her 11-year-old daughter, Griff (Becca Gardner), there's no other refuge than Einar's gone-to-seed ranch. The old coot doesn't want to see her, but, surprised to learn that he's a grandfather, reluctantly takes the pair in.

You just know that plucky little Griff will warm Einar's petrified heart. To help the process along, Morgan Freeman has been assigned his frequent wise-adviser-to-troubled-white-folks duties again. This time, he plays Einar's trusty ranch hand Mitch Bradley, who was mauled by a grizzly bear a year before Jean and Griff showed up. He's been tenderly cared for by the, yes, also guilt-wracked Einar, who was too drunk to help at the time of the attack. Mitch wants to forgive the bear who left him an invalid, too.

OK, that's a little distinctive for an otherwise clichéd effort. But it's in keeping with the closure-happy agenda of married writers Mark and Virginia Spragg's screenplay (she's a former therapist, and the script's hyped-up emotional confrontations and earnest reach for trauma recovery show it). In this movie, even the supporting characters cope with horrendous losses.